“[We] have no knowledge of this,” said Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. She declined to offer further comment.

Powers spoke out last week about the regents’ decision to freeze tuition at the flagship campus for two years. The regents said they would provide money from Available University Funds to offset the revenue the university would have gained through a tuition increase.

But Powers said the temporary injection of funds could not take the place of recurring funding.

“When we plan curriculum, course redesign, advising, we set up programs that, to be effective, have to persist into the future,” Powers said at the time.

Social media response to Wednesday’s blog post has exploded with thousands of Powers supporters launched a viral campaign with the hashtag #SaveBillPowers and Facebook pages supporting the president, according to a Houston Chronicle blog.

Another Facebook fan page has more than 400 “Likes.” A Twitter account with the handle @SaveBillPowers has also been launched. Students, faculty and alumni have been tweeting about Powers since Wednesday.

Meanwhile, students and alumna are encouraging Powers supporters to call the UT System.

The Facebook group’s description says, “Post on Twitter/Facebook #SaveBillPowers or email the Board of Regents at bor@utsystem.edu/call them at 512-499-4402 to show your support for what Bill Powers has done for UT. I STAND WITH BILL POWERS. I PROMOTE AND PROTECT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS.” Tweets are also pushing for supporters to call Regents.

A spokeswoman for the Texas Coalition for Excellence in Higher Education, a group that supports accountability at the state’s colleges and universities, said the coalition was monitoring the situation and did not want to respond to rumors.

But Jenifer Sarver, a spokeswoman for the coalition, said in an email, “The outpouring of support that we are seeing from around the globe is testament to Powers leadership and hard work to steer UT toward being the #1 public research university in the country. We’re excited to see so many young people engaged and enthusiastic about excellence in higher education. Of course, we hope the rumors are unfounded.”